The following posts were among the most highly read on the Civic Federation blog in 2013 and represent some of the most closely followed local government issues this year: City Council’s Proposed Independent Budget Office, A Civic Federation Recommendation January 2, 2013 This blog details a proposal introduced in the Chicago City Council on December 12, 2012 to create an Office of Independent Budget Analysis responsible for vetting all financial legislation before the Council. The Civic…
Last week the Civic Federation marked the end of the FY2014 budget season with a blog that summarized the proposed budgets for the eight local governments the Federation monitors. These governments include the City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) and the Chicago Park District. This blog…
Last week marked the end of the FY2014 budget season for the eight local governments monitored by the Civic Federation. These governments are the City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) and the Chicago Park District. Property Taxes Two of the seven governments that levy property taxes…
This report compares effective property tax rates in selected communities around metropolitan Chicago. The Civic Federation found mixed results across the region for effective tax rates in 2011 with rises in tax rates for all of the collar county municipalities studied over 2010 while in Cook County some communities saw decreases in residential effective tax rates. Commercial effective tax rates in each of the 12 Cook County communities studied declined by between 11.4% and 27.1%. Additionally…
On December 11, 2013, the City Council approved an ordinance to establish the City Council Office of Financial Analysis (COFA), modeled on the independent agencies established in the cities of New York, San Diego and Pittsburgh. The Civic Federation commends the City Council, legislation sponsors Alderman Ameya Pawar, Alderman Michelle Smith and Alderman Pat Dowell, Budget Committee Chairman Carrie Austin and Mayor Rahm Emanuel for working together to give the City Council the tools and…
Over the last several years, several local governments in the Chicago area have taken advantage of a provision of the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL or “tax caps”) that allows governments to increase their revenue beyond what normally would be allowed under the law by levying for expiring tax increment financing (TIF) increment. This post will explain how this maneuver works. To understand how governments can gain more revenue by taxing expiring TIF increment equalized assessed…
The Civic Federation strongly supports the proposal to create an Office of Financial Analysis for the Chicago City Council. Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed FY2014 budget includes funding for an Office of Financial Analysis to help vet financial legislation before it is considered by the Chicago City Council. The ordinance that would provide for the creation of such an office has passed the Committee on Budget and Government Operations and goes next to the full Council for consideration. We urge…
Over the past few years, the Civic Federation has blogged about financial indicators that can be used to measure the fiscal condition of local governments. The blogs were part of a larger ongoing project to assess the City of Chicago’s finances compared to twelve other major U.S. cities. On Friday, November 8, 2013, the Civic Federation released the product of this ongoing research project: a report that uses nine indicators of financial condition to measure the relative financial performance…
The Civic Federation supports the City of Chicago’s proposed $7.0 billion budget as a reasonable short-term plan that closes approximately two-thirds of a $338.7 million budget gap with structural changes that will continue to reduce the City’s ongoing deficit. To help balance the FY2014 budget, the City proposed an increase in the City’s cigarette tax rate, a reduction in the partial exemption from the amusement tax for cable companies and targeted rate increases for fines and permits.…
This report uses nine indicators of financial condition to measure the relative financial performance of Chicago and 12 other major U.S. cities from FY2007 to FY2011. In addition to Chicago, the other cities analyzed were Baltimore, Boston, Columbus, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City (MO), Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Seattle. Of the cities analyzed, only Boston and Detroit consistently performed worse than Chicago by these metrics during the five-year period that…
